Lancia Motor Club

Just fitted a pair of LED H1 type bulbs for my Fulvia inner headlamps, so I thought I’d give a couple of tips to anyone who might be thinking of doing the same.

The bulbs were bought from:

https://www.hids-direct.co.uk/h1-led-headlight-front-fog-light-bulbs-9-32v-4000lm-csp-2021-6500k-pack-of-2/

They look identical to the ones on the Pieces Fulvia website, although it’s quite a lot cheaper to source them in the UK.

The job is very straightforward, however the bendy spring steel H1 bulb retainers will have to be modified or more likely new ones made up with 150mm of about 1mm diameter steel bent to the appropriate shape with a pair of pliers.

The bulbs simply fit into the black “bucket” housings fine with the extra length of the base not a problem.

The main reason for the LEDs is current drain. I have a pair of period slimline Cibie Iode 45 driving lamps and the current drain of getting on for 28 amps for 6 lights was close the the alternator output, and that’s before various other lights and the ignition system, so LEDs are a sensible change.

I couldn’t find any LED H1s that would fit the Cibies which would have been the easiest option, hence fitting them into the inner Fulvia headlamps.

I hope, for your sake, that they turn out better than those I bought for my Lambda, which were dreadful! The “filaments” were nowhere near in the correct place! Good luck.

The bulbs are designed to be the same as the H1 in terms of interchangeability/filament position. I suspect that the Lambda bulbs are not of a type that are easy to find in the LED equivalent. Anyway, I’ll report back when I’ve been out on a dark and dry night.

LED may not be legal for road use.

Extract from Halfords website:

LED bulbs

There are two types of LED bulbs: Original Equipment (OE) and retrofit.

OE LED bulbs are completely road legal and fitted as standard by car manufacturers. However, OE LED bulbs are a non-replaceable part and so if the bulb fails then the entire headlight needs to be replaced.

Retrofitting is when you replace a standard bulb with an LED version. At the moment, it’s completely road legal for you to replace an internal bulb with an LED bulb. However, there’s no legislation to cover retrofitting external facing light sources and therefore LED exterior bulbs are not road legal.

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/advice/car-bulbs-and-the-law.html

And may be an MOT failure if spotted.

Thank God I lived through the Golden Age of motoring pre-EU directives etc!

...and we are exempt from MOTs.     All my prewar cars have LEDs because the dynamo is not really up to supplying enough current.  They are not inferior to the original filament lamps (including quartz).

This link says that cars first used before 1st April 1986 cars are permitted to convert to LED under an exemption from the rules.
https://classicandsportscar.com/news/led-headlight-upgrades-classic-cars-legal-or-not

Mike Clark

Thanks for posting that Mike - very useful.